The Army Training System - AskTOP

Annex C – Suicide Risk Comparison of Age CohortsAlmost half of all suicides within the Army occur with soldiers 25 years of age or younger.However, maturity doesn’t necessarily protect against suicidal behavior. In fact, older soldiershave a higher suicide rate than younger soldiers. As can be seen on Graph 1, although thegreater incidence of suicides within the Army occur in younger soldiers (represented by thedashed line), the highest suicide rates occur in soldier over 40 (represented by the solid line).By examining psychologicalArmy Suicide Agesautopsies, we find that 35younger soldiers are generallycommitting suicide as a result 30Total Numbers Rate Per 100kfrom insufficient orunderdeveloped life coping25skills. Suicides among older 20soldiers reveal a differentprofile of causes. These 15suicides often result from oneor more clinical psychiatric10disorders with associated 5problems that haveaccumulated over time. Many 0are facing a major life transition, 17-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45+such as a failed marriage or apromotion pass over. OthersAge Categoriessuffer from chronic substanceabuse or a mood disorder.GRAPH 1Unfortunately, many of thesesoldiers don’t seek professional help, in part because of the perceived cultural and organizationstigma associated with receiving mental health treatment.To prevent both types of suicides requires two different, specific prevention strategies.Awareness training can generally prevent preplanned suicides as those who are planning theirdeaths usually give “warning: or “danger” signs that other, vigilant people should intercept. Thisstrategy is contained in Chapter Six – Intervention.Those unplanned, impulsive suicides are more challenging to prevent since the time from thedecision, to the suicide act might be quick and not long enough for the potential suicide victim todisplay any warning signs. To prevent these types of suicide requires programs that prevent theindividual from ever considering suicide as a viable option, which means developing their lifecoping skills so that when faced with a particular stressor, they will have the means to handle itwithout it turning into a crisis and potential suicide. This strategy is contained in Chapter Five –Prevention.SH-2-40